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World Cup Picks last 16by Ben, last updated 2006-06-22 07:17:38Gerry's PicksBy Gerry McDonnellA rest Wayne in orderOnce upon a time, after partaking in a couple of social halves at a local tavern, I found myself in the company of a young ginger-haired Scottish lady. Being a personable soul, I overcame the handicap of her ridiculous accent to engage in polite conversation. Unfortunately, kindness is rarely rewarded. Before I really knew what was happening, the red-headed caber-tosser proceeded to take advantage, physically. Fast forward seven years, and Elizabeth still has her claws in me, and my chances of ever breaking free are slim. I share this tale with you not to whine about the wife, Betty the sweaty, but because the England players currently find themselves in an almost identical situation, just one little mistake can lead to years of regret. As long as the England players avoid pulling a ‘Gerry', a happy ending should be on the cards against Ecuador. The Three Lions should be supported at 4/9. Michael Owen is a goal scoring machine when fit, unfortunately, he hasn't been fit since 1998. As Sven refuses to play Walcott as cover and Crouch is clearly not of international class, the Owen injury could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. England will definitely benefit from a holding midfielder while Gerrard will be given the license to support Rooney up front. Wayne's recovery from injury has been bordering on miraculous, I'm not a religious man, but I'll be praying that the Roonatic bags the opener at 9/2. England have played exceptionally well in the first half of their matches so far, before wilting like a Frenchman in a drinking competition. Another impressive start against a poor Ecuadorian team would allow Sven to rest Wayne at about the hour mark, with the game well and truly in the bag. A half-time full-time win for Sven's men is a value option at 6/5. Correct score betting is never an easy market to crack, the bookies have a built in percentage so fat it makes Brazil's Ronaldo look like Pete Doherty. However, when there's a short priced favourite in a match, the bookies edge is dramatically reduced. A perm of a 2-0 / 3-0 win pays out at 11/4, with 2-0 being the preferred selection at 6/1. Germany meet Sweden in Saturday's opener, and somewhat controversially, I'll be playing heavily on the Swedes. Forget the Klose's of this world, disregard the Podolski's and never mind the Ballack's, the Swedes are more than a match for the Germans, you should get involved at 9/2. Admittedly, the Germans topped their group, but Northern Ireland could have qualified from that poor bunch. Swedish coach Lars ‘must have knocked his' Lagerback is genuinely confident of victory, and rightly so. The Swedes are 11/1 pokes to win by a 1-0 scoreline, help yourself. Argentina v Mexico will bring Saturday's action to a close and this one is a total no-brainer. FIFA may believe that Mexico are the superior team, but their rankings are a lot like me, the last time I requested my marital rights; seriously flawed. The bookies are offering 2/5 about an Argentina victory in 90 minutes, I implore you, play, and play hard. The weekend's action will end when Portugal face Holland for the right to meet England in the last eight. I haven't been overly impressed with the Portuguese so far, Figo looks shot, Pauleta has once again failed to deliver on the big stage and Ronaldo's bag of tricks may be pleasing to the eye, but they're about as effective as a ‘No Drinking' sign in Glasgow. The Dutch qualified with ease from the supposed group of death, the Orange looks tasty at 5/4 For the first goal scorer in this match, look no further that Robin Van Persie at 15/2. Van the man has the sweetest touch since Van Gogh and is due a good performance ear. On a related note, Peter Crouch is also a Post-Impressionist. Weekend Betting: Germany v Sweden Saturday 24th June 16.00 Germany 4/5 Draw 13/5 Sweden 9/2 Get on: Sweden "Freddie, willing and able" - Ljungberg to score the only goal of the game 65/1 Match Special: Argentina v Mexico Saturday 24th June 20.00 Argentina 2/5 Draw 11/4 Mexico 15/2 Get on: Argentina Match Special: "Fancy a quick Juan?" - Riquelme to score the first goal 13/2 England v Ecuador Sunday 25th June 16.00 England 4/9 Draw 3/1 Ecuador 7/1 Get on: England Match Special: "A Wayne storm" - Rooney to score a hat-trick 25/1 Portugal v Holland Sunday 25th June 20.00 Portugal 12/5 Draw 11/5 Holland 5/4 Get on: Holland Match Special: "Cocu nuts" - Phillip Cocu to score with a header 16/1 ← Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 Next → |
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